Any what if moments?

i'm sure honor says something about the new forts (post bassilisk, EOH) were designed to fend off at least a squadron podnouts EACH! and even when terekov first reported to spindle 1 fort was online (and equipped with Mk 23s given White haven's no doubt acidic after action report about bassilisk's fort not having their pod allotment) with others due to follow soon.

so 1 fort alone could swat monica's ex solly BCs with out much trouble as the monicans would think about trying to take it via ballistics.

Crown Loyalist wrote:

kzt wrote:What if the plot by Monica had succeeded? The current books would be a lot more fun.

How so? Monica attacks the wormhole, maybe wins maybe doesn't (I'm leaning towards doesn't but let's give them the benefit of the doubt). Manticore sends Henke down with a few battlecruisers blows them up and takes it back, attacks Monica and blows up the rest of their navy. We're exactly where we ended up, delayed a few months.

Edit: I'm pretty sure Monica could take the wormhole. The forts aren't online yet (IIRC) and the picket seems very light - too much of the Talbott picket was running around putting out brush fires or playing show the flag in the run up to the annexation vote.

But I'm not convinced that, even with pods for the ex-SLN BCs that the 8th fleet ships already in Talbott would be unable to recapture the wormhole. HMS Samothrace leads the way!

Even an old SD with limited updates, backed by, say, twice the modern and legacy cruisers and destroyers present at Monica and all the pods HMS Volcano and her sister ship(s) could hand out would be a handful for a dozen or so BCs (especially if they'd already tipped their hand on the range of the big ass extended range missiles in their pods).

[Which would have been a fun read; possibly better than the Battle of Monica that we did get. Sadly we can't really get both battles]

But even if I'm wrong they'd definitely only own the wormhole for as long as it took Manticore to send a relief force through hyper to kick them out -- which would be a boring battle. Swarms of Mk16s or Mk23s from beyond the ex-SLN BC's own missile range.



However that might still give time for the MAlign to grab tech samples and disappear down their rabbit hole to start reverse engineering real MDMs and FTL high bandwidth com links. Which could lead to tougher battles later - but only if things go back to simmer for at least 6-7 years. (It takes time to reverse engineer and then build and deploy this stuff)

Dauntless wrote:i'm sure honor says something about the new forts (post bassilisk, EOH) were designed to fend off at least a squadron podnouts EACH! and even when terekov first reported to spindle 1 fort was online (and equipped with Mk 23s given White haven's no doubt acidic after action report about bassilisk's fort not having their pod allotment) with others due to follow soon.

so 1 fort alone could swat monica's ex solly BCs with out much trouble as the monicans would think about trying to take it via ballistics.

The forts were not even on line after the battle of Manticore. Terekov's warning forced Manticore to send O'Malley 2 Squadrons of non-upgraded Medusa to guard the Lynx terminus, and they were still there after BoMA.

Before that, the picket was a couple old light cruisers and destroyers - enough to do traffic control and ring the bell if something hsppened.

If even 1 fort was completed, Squadrons of SDs could be held off long enough to send any warning necessary and hold for reinforcements. In which case O'Malley's squadrons would have been pointless.

Here's a what if.

What if Honor had been unable to return fire during her duel with North Hollow. Remember NH turned and fired into HH's back hitting her in the left(?) shoulder. Because he turned and fired early his life was forfeit. IIRC Lt. Castalano pulled and fired (head shot IIRC) at NH but after HH had hit him in the heart. Now would HH been voted out of the Lords?

saber964 wrote:Here's a what if.

What if Honor had been unable to return fire during her duel with North Hollow. Remember NH turned and fired into HH's back hitting her in the left(?) shoulder. Because he turned and fired early his life was forfeit. IIRC Lt. Castalano pulled and fired (head shot IIRC) at NH but after HH had hit him in the heart. Now would HH been voted out of the Lords?

Yes. they might have had to work a bit harder to come up with a reason but they would have done it anyway.

these are the same jerks who banished her because "she shot NH when her opponent's weapon was out of ammo".

if they had to use such a thin reason to start with they would have had no trouble using an even less believable reason.

These were new construction being shipped in and assembled. They would be insane to not include KH2 in new construction, as the retrofit would appear to essentially require dissembling and rebuilding the fort in a shipyard, which means disassembling it and shipping it back to Manticore. This is a lot easier to do on the equipment on the Manticore side of the WH.

What would have been the repercussions if Rear Admiral Mark Sarnow had not been wounded during the First battle of Hancock and was in full command when Young panicked?

kzt wrote:

munroburton wrote:
The MAlign's hope for the whole operation was to obtain RMN wreckage from Lynx. If they could get a MDM baffle...

Most of the gear was in shipping crates. Apollo FC, recon drones, Mk23s of all flavors, FTL systems, pretty much everything. The war with the SL gets a lot more interesting if you know they have all the RMNs most advanced tech and enormously more industrial power.

Indeed it does get much more "interesting" (as in the Chinese curse.) Manticore and the GA find themselves with a much, MUCH closer deadline to end the danger from the League BEFORE the SLN can reverse engineer and begin to either duplicate or come up with something close to the Manty tech captured and get it into serial production and into service, a few months or perhaps a year rather than years.

In such a case LaCoon II may become moot, there may not be enough time for the blockade to have the desired effect.

pnakasone wrote:What would have been the repercussions if Rear Admiral Mark Sarnow had not been wounded during the First battle of Hancock and was in full command when Young panicked?

There would have been no question then that Young ran without orders. I'm not sure even his father's family's files could have saved his from execution in that case. If it's clear it then the opposition can't seize on it as part of their attempt to halt the war. So not sure what happens there.
Of course if Young dies there's likely nobody who'd care to get Paul killed.

But also Honor would be a minor witness in the trial; not the core of it. So with that and no dual no need to exile her to Grayson. Arguably that makes 4th Yeltsin (if it happens) more likely to go the Peep's way. And whether it happens depends on whether the opposition was still able to hamstring the early war again.

So that's my off the cuff thought. Lots of changes!

saber964 wrote:Here's a what if.

What if Honor had been unable to return fire during her duel with North Hollow. Remember NH turned and fired into HH's back hitting her in the left(?) shoulder. Because he turned and fired early his life was forfeit. IIRC Lt. Castalano pulled and fired (head shot IIRC) at NH but after HH had hit him in the heart. Now would HH been voted out of the Lords?

IIRC, Lt. Castalano had a military grade pulser, not the semi-automatic pistol the parties to the duel used. He basically split North Hollow in half with a single burst from head to tail. Of course, Honor had already put three 9mm holes in the space his heart should have been.